NEW YORK -- Pitching coach Dave Eiland is back with the Yankees, and as manager Joe Girardi put it, "It's good to be whole again.''

"It's great to see him,'' Girardi said of Eiland, who left the team June 4 to attend to a personal matter. "I think our staff works really well together, and we had to make some adjustments, and we picked up, but it's good to be whole again.''

Girardi said Eiland's departure was "a little unexpected'' and compared the Yankees living without Eiland to dealing with an injury to a player. "Someone gets hurt, and you have to pick up,'' Girardi said. "It's never easy when you lose a player, or lose a staff member. It's never easy, but our guys did a great job.''

Eiland wouldn't reveal the reason for his leaving the team. He said the matter was personal and asked the media to respect his family's privacy and not ask what the reason was. He said he was in contact with Girardi and bullpen coach Mike Harkey, who filled in for him in his absence and said he saw some of the Yankees' games while he was away.

Some have speculated that struggling starter A.J. Burnett, who went 0-5, with an 11.35 ERA in June, may benefit most from Eiland's return. Because Burnett's struggles have coincided with Eiland's absence, some wonder if the two may be correlated, but Eiland dismissed that notion.

"A.J. knows what he needs to do,'' Eiland said. "For me to sit here and say the reason A.J. pitched like this is because I wasn't here is not fair.''

He did say, though, that he noticed some things, which he talked to Harkey about and will talk to Burnett about when he sees him Wednesday. (Burnett is not with the team today, having not yet returned after his grandfather's funeral.) And while he expressed confidence that Burnett will turn things around, he sounded a little annoyed at the pitcher.

"It's nothing that A.J. and I haven't discussed already,'' Eiland said. "It's simple things. Every pitcher, you have to stay on 'em about certain things. With A.J., there are a couple things -- and they're very minor -- but A.J. has to do it. He's been told over and over in the past what they are, but he's the one that has to go out and do it. And Hark has relayed it to him in my absence.''

**Brett Gardner, who was hit on the right wrist by Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw in Sunday night's game, is out of the lineup. Girardi said Gardner could be out "a couple days, or he could be day-to-day.''

X-rays on the wrist proved negative and Girardi said Gardner could be available if he needed him to play defense, but other than that would not play. Chad Huffman is starting in left field in his place.

Girardi, by the way, admitted that until Nick Johnson returns to action, a lineup with Jorge Posada as the DH and Francisco Cervelli behind the plate "is a good lineup.'' Posada, it sounds like, will get the bulk of the designated hitter at bats, unless Girardi chooses to DH one of his other regulars.

**And as far as injuries, Girardi didn't have much to report on the injured/rehabbing players, other than to say that Marcus Thames (hamstring) is expected to DH Wednesday for Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre.